Charleville

Immortalised in Slim Dusty's song by the same name, Charleville is the largest town in Queensland's south west and is a hub for visitors and pastoralists alike. In the heart of 'mulga country', Charleville and surrounding pastoral properties are rich in history, flora and fauna. Meander along the Charleville Heritage Trail to see some impressive examples of pioneer architecture and learn about the history of the town. The Save the Bilby Fund, at the National Parks Research Station, is worth a visit for an up close and personal experience with Australia's most famous endangered marsupial.

Speaking of up close and personal, the Cosmos Centre provides an intimate look at our night sky, and with the outback's low residual light, there's no better place to do so. If you time your visit with the Charleville Campdraft, one of the region's largest, you'll be able to see skillful demonstrations of timeless bush horse skills as riders and their horses work together to guide cattle through a timed course. Charleville also holds a rodeo, where cowboys and girls conquer their fears to ride wild and powerful beasts.

Gazetted in 1868, Charleville was named after a town in Ireland where the government surveyor of the day once lived. Rail transport from Brisbane reached the town in 1888 and is still in use as a passenger line today.

Cobb and Co, the famous coach company, based their largest coach making factory in Australia in the township of Charleville in 1890. The factory was moved to Charleville because the wood used in coaches made in factories closer to the coast would split and crack in the dry, dusty conditions of Western Queensland. On the subject of transport, Qantas scheduled its first fare paying passenger service from Charleville to Cloncurry, via Longreach and Winton, back in 1922.

Charleville is home to south west Queensland's largest Royal Flying Doctor Service base that serves remote communities as far afield as Birdsville, 900 kilometres to the west.

Lake Bindegolly National Park is a remote but accessible park on the edge of Queensland's channel country. This park is a bird and sunset-watcher's paradise, distinguished by desert landscapes, a string of salt and freshwater lakes, thousands of waterbirds and a rare tree.

In semi-arid, south-western Queensland, Tregole National Park straddles the boundary between two of the state’s natural regions, the brigalow belt and the mulga lands.
The park protects a small, almost pure stand of ooline Cadellia pentastylis, an attractive dry rainforest tree dating back to the Ice Ages.

The Dowling Track - a journey of discovery.
Travel in the footsteps of Vincent James Dowling and other early pioneers over 100 years ago discovered this area, known as the “Plains of Promise”- people travelled the track looking for a new life and new opportunities.

The Cameron Corner loop is an ideal way to experience the real Outback. This journey will leave you breathless, passing through open gibber plains where you can see for miles to sandy undulating land. The Cameron Corner loop offers contrasting landscapes and experiences.

In Currawinya National Park, waterbirds and migratory shorebirds are drawn in their thousands to globally important wetlands in the otherwise dry and dusty mulga lands of south-western Queensland.
With more than 200 bird species, large kangaroo species and reptiles, wildlife watching in this park is a stunning experience.

Hell Hole Gorge is part of the Powell plateau which forms part of the Grey Range. The deeply incised Powell Creek with steep, dissected escarpments and vertical cliffs up to 45 metres high drains through the centre of the area along with the smaller Spencers and Gorge Creek.

The Mud Springs are located nine kilometres west of Eulo. The mud springs have evolved due to the underground pressure from the Great Artesian Basin, forcing mud through fissures in the ground. The mud springs are centuries old.

In the little town of Hebel it feels like time has stood still, leaving behind tales of the Ned Kelly gang, Cobb & Co and old-time dance halls. Hebel's interesting history is brought to life through the public art piece, the Hebel Historical Circle.

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